Two Spaniards received prestigious awards yesterday when Sergio Garcia won the European Golf Writers' Trophy and Jose Maria Olazabal took the Ben Hogan Award, given annually by the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA) to an individual who has continued to thrive in golf despite a physical handicap or serious illness.
Garcia, 20 next Sunday and the youngest winner of this award for 43 years, has had a sensational first season as a professional.
Garcia finished second to world number one Tiger Woods in the USPGA championship, became the first teenager to play in the Ryder Cup, won the Murphy's Irish Open and German Masters and partnered Olazabal and Miguel Angel Jimenez to success in the Dunhill Cup.
It was the narrowest of victories. In the poll among members of the Association of Golf Writers, Garcia finished a single vote ahead of both Colin Montgomerie, winner of the European Order of Merit for a staggering seventh successive year, and the Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team.
Remembering that 1999 also saw Paul Lawrie win the Open and Olazabal the US Masters, Garcia was understandably delighted when told of the award in Arizona, where he began 2000 by coming fifth in the Williams World Challenge on Sunday.
"I'm very proud to have won this trophy after everything achieved by European golfers last year," he said.
The only person to have received the trophy at a younger age was John Beharrell, just 18 when he became British amateur champion in 1956.
Garcia matched that feat in 1998, but that was merely a stepping stone. Olazabal, who once wondered if he would walk again, came back from a debilitating nerve problem in his lower back to win his second Masters last April.
Olazabal was a runaway winner in the Hogan voting, easily beating Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman.
Nancy Lopez was another award winner yesterday. Lopez, who turns 43 this week, was the recipient of the GWAA's William D Richardson Award, given to an individual who has consistently made an outstanding contribution to golf.
Lopez edged former USGA president Judy Bell and Charles Yates, long-time secretary of Augusta National and chairman of the Masters press committee, in the Richardson balloting.
Lopez and Olazabal will be honoured at the annual GWAA Awards dinner on April 5th.
Lopez has won just about every honour in golf since turning pro in 1977. She won a record nine tournaments, including a record five in a row, during an incomparable 1978 season when she won Rookie and Player of the Year honours and the Vare Trophy.
